Designing your relationships with mission

This last installment of our series on Designing Your Relationships focuses on your vision.

Remember your car trip? Your vision is the reason for your car trip; where you will end up and what it is going to be like when you get there Your life purpose is the road or the roads you will take, and the vehicle you will travel in, to get where you are going.

Your mission is being the driver of your car and being responsible for the condition of the vehicle you are driving. It is about the daily actions you take (your decisions and choices) that make your vision real and viable.

Creating your mission means finding your reason to do what helps you be and do your very best every day and committing to it. Your mission will be the basis for you to:

Live through your values;

Easily satisfy your needs or get your needs met; and

Support you to use your gifts, talents and skills as often and as richly as you can.

Clarify your mission so well that it can only be yours, no one else's.

It is time to develop a mission for your work, life and relationship. Ask yourself these three questions:

“What are five things I can do this week to support myself on my purposeful path?” These don’t have to be huge things – indeed they can be quite small – as long as they take you in the direction you want to go.

“What are my natural abilities, talents and skills that are my strengths and assets?” You should know this – but it’s always worth asking one or two people you really trust what they think you are particularly good at. You may be surprised at the answer!

“What is it about me that others most value?” Think of the things that people say about you. This isn’t the time for being modest – be proud of what you offer to others.

If you are not living your mission you might be living someone else’s! Those with a clearly defined mission have always led those who haven't any.

Be sure you keep an eye on your car. Does it need any work? Has it broken down altogether; are you heading for a crash or - have you crashed? Are you an alert driver? Do you read directions and sign posts along the way? Or perhaps you have not been paying close attention; or maybe, you have fallen asleep.

Looking back over your life, can you notice any specific behaviors, decisions or choices you made or didn’t make, or wish you had made? What kind of driver have you been, so far, in your vehicle of life?

You may have heard the old adage, ‘Life is an inside job.’ The dating process, creating your best life and co-creating your best love life for the rest of your life starts with you knowing yourself, inside and out.